Press conference on the anniversary of the G8 searches: Lawyers demand the cessation of the proceedings

Some of those charged in four §129(a) proceedings
c/o Coalition for the Immediate End to the § 129a Proceedings
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte e.V.
Greifswalder Straße 4
D-10405 Berlin

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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berlin, May 8, 2008

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Germany-wide searches before
the G8 summit on May 9th 2007, Katja Kipping (member of the German
Parliament for the Left Party "Die Linke"), Pedram Shahyar (member of the
Attac Coordination group) and the two lawyers Christina Clemm (Berlin)
and Alexander Hoffmann (Kiel) demanded the cessation of the §129a
proceedings against 40 left-wing activists. The invitation to the press
conference was made by those charged in four different §129(a) cases.

Christina Clemm, a lawyer in the so-called "G8 case" and the most recent
"mg case" said: "The searches could only be carried out because of the
existence of the §129a legislation". If the Federal Prosecution had
followed the current decisions of the Federal Court, there should never
have been this extent of surveillance and searches."

Her colleague, Alexander Hoffmann, defense lawyer in the "Bad Oldesloe
Case", criticised the role of the Federal Office for the Protection of
the Constitution: "The Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution's direct participation in the police investigations went
far beyond what was allowed". He reminded that about 2000 people are
affected by these investigations. Against this backdrop he vehemently
warned against misunderstanding the process of judicial review as an
effective way of ensuring the protection of basic rights.

Katja Kipping, the acting party leader of the Left Party (Die Linke) and
member of the German Parliament attributes these investigations in the
"context of the restructuring of Germany's security architecture". This,
says Kipping, "is particularly apparent in the relinquishing of the
separation between police and secret services", as could be observed in
the investigations". For this reason she rejected the new BKA law and
demanded the abolishment of the "spy law" 129a.

Pedram Shahyar, member of the ATTAC coordination group, drew attention to
a further aspect of this restructuring, the deployment of the German
military within the country during the G8 summit. He summarised the
investigations with the following: "The repression before the G8 summit
was intended to split the social movements. Politically, the Federal
Prosecution failed to achieve this." The ATTAC activist who had been
called as a witness in the proceedings against Dr Holm et al the
previous day, demanded the cessation of the proceedings and the deletion
of the data that had been "unlawfully gathered".

A detailed overview of the extent of the surveillance in the four
§129(a) cases can be found in the press conference press info: Pressemappe , with a table containing numbers of different surveillance measures that have been carried out (both in German)